Age, sex and reproductive status affect boldness in dogs

Starling, Melissa J.; Branson, N. J. B. A.; Thomson, Peter; McGreevy, Paul D.

doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2013.05.019

Cited by 83 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Neutering has been associated with alterations in dog behavior, reducing the risk of biting in certain breeds of dogs [8] and neutered dogs are at reduced risk for relinquishment presumably due to improved behavior [10]. A study that evaluated boldness in dogs found that intact dogs of both sexes and multiple breeds are more “bold” than neutered dogs [80] which may be associated with exploratory and wandering behavior. Additionally, neutered dogs are less aggressive and less likely to roam [6, 7].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Correlation of neuter status and expression of heritable disorders

Belanger

Bellumori

Bannasch

et al. 2017

Canine Genet Epidemiol

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BackgroundGonadectomy, or neutering, is a very common surgery for dogs having many positive effects on behavior, health, and longevity. There are also certain risks associated with neutering including the development of orthopedic conditions, cognitive decline, and a predisposition to some neoplasias. This study was designed specifically to identify if a correlation exists between neuter status and inherited conditions in a large aggregate cohort of dogs representing many different breeds.ResultsNeutered dogs were at less risk for early and congenital conditions (aortic stenosis, early onset cataracts, mitral valve disease, patent ductus arteriosus, portosystemic shunt, and ventricular septal defect) than intact dogs. Neutering was also associated with reduced risk of dilated cardiomyopathy and gastric dilatation volvulus in males. Neutering was significantly associated with an increased risk for males and females for cancers (hemangiosarcoma, hyperadrenocorticism, lymphoma, mast cell tumor, and osteosarcoma), ruptured anterior cruciate ligament and epilepsy. Intervertebral disk disease was associated with increased risk in females only. For elbow dysplasia, hip dysplasia, lens luxation, and patellar luxation neutering had no significant effect on the risk for those conditions. Neutering was associated with a reduced risk of vehicular injury, a condition chosen as a control.ConclusionsIn this retrospective study, several conditions showed an increased risk associated with neutering whereas other conditions were less likely to be expressed in neutered dogs. The complexity of the interactions between neutering and inherited conditions underscores the need for reflective consultation between the client and the clinician when considering neutering. The convenience and advantages of neutering dogs that will not be included in a breeding program must be weighed against possible risk associated with neutering.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40575-017-0044-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Correlation of neuter status and expression of heritable disorders

Belanger

Bellumori

Bannasch

et al. 2017

Canine Genet Epidemiol

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“…Sex, including neutering status, involves sex hormones, of which testosterone and estrogen have been shown to have a protective effect on the development of fear in species such as the rat [137,138], mouse [139] and sheep [140,141]. Male dogs and intact dogs were found to be bolder than female and neutered dogs, respectively [18]. Thus, neutered individuals might show slightly higher fearfulness or reactivity compared to intact ones [142], due to the lower levels of gonadal steroids, and hence score slightly higher on those questions overlapping with fearfulness in the HSD questionnaire.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of the “Highly Sensitive Dog” questionnaire to evaluate the personality dimension “Sensory Processing Sensitivity” in dogs

et al. 2017

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In humans, the personality dimension ‘sensory processing sensitivity (SPS)’, also referred to as “high sensitivity”, involves deeper processing of sensory information, which can be associated with physiological and behavioral overarousal. However, it has not been studied up to now whether this dimension also exists in other species. SPS can influence how people perceive the environment and how this affects them, thus a similar dimension in animals would be highly relevant with respect to animal welfare. We therefore explored whether SPS translates to dogs, one of the primary model species in personality research. A 32-item questionnaire to assess the “highly sensitive dog score” (HSD-s) was developed based on the “highly sensitive person” (HSP) questionnaire. A large-scale, international online survey was conducted, including the HSD questionnaire, as well as questions on fearfulness, neuroticism, “demographic” (e.g. dog sex, age, weight; age at adoption, etc.) and “human” factors (e.g. owner age, sex, profession, communication style, etc.), and the HSP questionnaire. Data were analyzed using linear mixed effect models with forward stepwise selection to test prediction of HSD-s by the above-mentioned factors, with country of residence and dog breed treated as random effects. A total of 3647 questionnaires were fully completed. HSD-, fearfulness, neuroticism and HSP-scores showed good internal consistencies, and HSD-s only moderately correlated with fearfulness and neuroticism scores, paralleling previous findings in humans. Intra- (N = 447) and inter-rater (N = 120) reliabilities were good. Demographic and human factors, including HSP score, explained only a small amount of the variance of HSD-s. A PCA analysis identified three subtraits of SPS, comparable to human findings. Overall, the measured personality dimension in dogs showed good internal consistency, partial independence from fearfulness and neuroticism, and good intra- and inter-rater reliability, indicating good construct validity of the HSD questionnaire. Human and demographic factors only marginally affected the HSD-s suggesting that, as hypothesized for human SPS, a genetic basis may underlie this dimension within the dog species.

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“…Worth noting when comparing our results to these studies is that we neither trained nor tested the dogs but only observed their behavior when the dogs were affected only by stimuli of a low-stressful and everyday character. Young dogs have been suggested to be bolder than older dogs (Starling et al, 2013). In studies on beagles (Siwak, 2001), young dogs were more explorative and interacted more with novel toys, humans, and a model dog than old dogs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another common approach is to use questionnaires to collect owners' subjective impressions about their dogs (Serpell and Hsu, 2005;Starling et al, 2013). The owners' knowledge about their dogs can reduce behavioral noise due to daily or seasonal variations, which cannot be accounted for in a single behavioral test.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing companion dog behavior in a social setting

Roth

Jensen

2015

Journal of Veterinary Behavior

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1There is a growing and important need for large-scale characterisation of dog 2 behaviour, for example to conduct genetic analyses or to assess welfare. An extensive 3 number of standardised tests and questionnaires are used for this, but few focus on the 4 normal behaviour in situations which are frequently encountered in the everyday life 5 of companion dogs. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a fast, but 6 standardised method to characterise behavioural variation in pet dogs, based on a brief 7 observation in a situation often encountered by many dogs, namely during training 8classes. The spontaneous behaviour of dogs was video-recorded during 3 minutes in a 9 standardised setting, while their owners were occupied filling in a short questionnaire, 10 and during 30 seconds of walking on leash. Behaviours, including contact seeking 11 behaviour with both the owner, a stranger and other dogs, together with general 12 activity and interaction with a novel object were later analysed and further processed 13 in two separate Principal Component Analyses (PCA). The PCs from the two test 14 parts correlated significantly with each other and aspects of both home and test 15 environment influenced several components in both PCAs. Age and sex also showed 16 significant effects on test outcome, e.g. age affected how social and explorative the 17 dog was and females jumped more on their owner, whilst males pulled the leash more. 18In addition, dogs that were perceived as cooperative by their owner, looked more at 19 their owner and pulled the leash less. In conclusion, this simple test captures essential 20 parts of the normal, everyday behaviour profile of dogs, such as owner-and dog-21 directed social behaviour, which are not usually measured in the commonly used test 22 batteries for dogs. 23 24

show abstract

Age, sex and reproductive status affect boldness in dogs

Cited by 83 publications

References 25 publications

Correlation of neuter status and expression of heritable disorders

Correlation of neuter status and expression of heritable disorders

Development of the “Highly Sensitive Dog” questionnaire to evaluate the personality dimension “Sensory Processing Sensitivity” in dogs

Assessing companion dog behavior in a social setting

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